Wills at Several Levels of the Personality

Manas in Sanskrit means the point in the mind where the senses converge and buddhi is intelligence of the intellect.

Manas in Tamil is used as a synonym of Mind in English.

Mind is said to be the function of brain distinct from the nerves, which is the vital in Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy.

"We" is the one term we know, which is a curious amalgam of Intuition, Intellect, Mind, brain, nerves, vital, emotion, sensation, ego, Psychic, Soul, manners, character and personality.

Students of psychology need a clear distinction between these terms. Disciples of yogic practice or scholars of theory of yoga will launch themselves into a creative confusion if such distinctions are not there.

In this article, it is my endeavour to confine myself to the various expressions of will that function through all the above levels in the gross physical, subtle and causal planes of each of the four parts of the human being.

Obviously such an attempt can be exhaustive in one wide field of entire life. I endeavour to exhaust my store of information based only on my experience.

Consciousness

All the eight planes from Sat to Matter, the three planes from gross to causal have consciousness of that level of existence.

Consciousness splits into knowledge and will at each of these levels. Our enquiry is of the several wills.

Will of each of these planes will carry the character of that plane. For example, vital will is of energy, mental will understanding, supramental will determinism, etc.

In the planes of Ignorance below the mind the Will can be moved from outside and rarely from inside. Theoretically, all these wills can act as SILENT WILL.

As my aim here is a better appreciation of WILL, I shall mostly confine myself to self-explanatory examples. There can be no order of gradation in this writing since it is written at random as a first effort.

Calling another person is vital will initiated in the body, executed by the speech with the cooperation of thought.

Understanding what we read with concentration is mental will exercised in the field of thinking that is subtle.

Going to the telephone to call another person is mental will, which is obeyed by the body when the thought moves. It is physical will obliged by the mind if the urge to dial is physical.

Hunger is vital-physical.

Planning for the future is the will of mind exercised by foresight in imagination.

Polite speaking is the will of social manners.

Punctuality is the will of mental discipline to which all the other parts of the being submit.

Memory is the will of mind in its faculty of memory.

Hearing inner voice is the spiritual will of the psychic.

Luck sailing to us is the WILL of grace permitted to enter us by the will of the being.

Taking note of happenings around (symptoms, omens, life responses, etc.) is the subtle will of the mind.

Invitation to the Ashram is the WILL of Universal Grace.

Expectation is the will of occupation of the mind.

Frustration is the will of the weak disappointed vital.

Desire is the will of life.

Bathing is the will of the bodily sensation of cleanliness.

Writing a letter is the will of the physical in the mind even as speaking is the will of the vital in the mind.

Subtle vision is the subtle will of the mind that is illuminated.

Remembering, recognising, recalling are the wills of memory.

Fiction writing is the will of the imagination in the mind.

Truth speaking is the will of the soul in the mind.

Sleeping is the will of the body.

Dreaming is the will of the subtle part of the subconscious or subliminal mind.

Comparing is the social will of the mind.

Cheerfulness is the will of a strong free vital.

Curing of the body is the will of the body.

Forgetting is the negative will of memory in the body.

Negotiation and bargain are the wills of the self-asserting vital.

Einstein’s seeing the formula E=Mc2 was the will of intuition.

The foreign invasion of India was the will of Nature.

Green Revolution was the collective physical will of India expressing through the mind of the nation.

Resourcefulness is the will of the Spirit in mind.

Presence of mind is the will of the Spiritual mind.

In an occasion very fit for anger, one’s pleasant character overcomes anger and one ends up speaking smoothly. It is the will of his character.

At a time when circumstances baffle one who has no known response, a new idea appears. It is from the will of his personality.

As man has a personality, places, events, time of day, organisations and virtually everything has a personality of its own.

When a football match is played on your ground where matches were mostly won, your kick landing the ball on the goal-post knocking it into the goal by mistake is the will of the personality of the ground.

Fear is inverted will.

Choice is the will of understanding.

Presentation is the social or psychological will.

Worship is the will of the vital that is aware of the environment.

Romance is the will of adventure.

Adventure is the will of danger in us, the love of danger to be precise.

Precision is the will of Overmind in an act.

Depression is the vital will reversed.

Supramental descent is the will of the earth’s aspiration.

Conception of a child is the physical will of the body.

Law is the will of the society expressed through legislature.

Rule is the will of administration.

Order is the will of the boss of an office.

Discipline is the will of the organised inner consciousness.

A long forgotten friend calling now is the will of subtle memory of the surfacing subliminal.

A chance that brings Mother into your ken in any fashion is the grace to you of the subtle subconscious life around you.

Cleaning is the subconscious will for the superconscious.

Measuring is the will of knowledge emerging through the will of work.

Joy is the will of excess vital energy that is positive.

Entertainment is the will of the mind in the vital energy that expands happily.

Opinion is the will of information functioning in mind. When the mind forms an opinion of its own without being imposed upon, it is the will of the mind that organises itself around a string of facts.

Affection is the psychic will that needs to foster itself in the atmosphere of vital harmony.

Revelation is the will of the intuitive mind.

Cheating is the will of vital strength that dominates the mind.

Coincidence is the will of circumstances that meet in a person.

Yoga is the will of the aspiring Spirit.

Philosophy is the will of the collective mind.

Evil is the will of the negative side of the life that perfects the positive side.

Children are the will of the body to perpetuate.

Loss of an object is the will of the object to go away from you.

Debate is the will of the many to organise itself into one view.

Terrorism is the will of the minority strength seeking the advantages of the majority.

Democracy is the will of the majority to organise the whole according to its view.